So draws with Ukranian GM

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Wesley So split the point with former world champion Ukranian GM Ruslan Ponomariov in 41 moves of the Ruy Lopez opening to stay half a point off the pace after the seventh round of the 2015 Qatar Masters Open in Doha, Qatar Sunday night.

Employing the Berlin Defense against the popular Spanish opening, So used his uncastled but active king to gain equality and later a slight positional advantage but Ponomariov, who reigned as world champion from 2002 to 2004, opted to play it safe and ignored the former's ploy to complicate matters.

So and Ponomariov decided to draw when they could not find anything out of a closed position.

The standoff sent So in a heavy 16-man chase pack with five points apiece, half a point behind top seed and reigning world champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway, GM Sanan Sjugirov of Russia and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.

Carlsen, who halved the point with So the round before, settled for another one against third seed GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands while Mamedyarov and Sjugirov zoomed to the top with wins over Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Russian GM Dmitry Jakovenko, respectively.

So thus faces off with unseeded Chinese International Master Lin Chen, who downed compatriot and women's world champion Hou Yifan, desperately needing a win to boost his title chance with two rounds to go in this tournament staking $27,000 to the winner.